Norman Campbell

Born in Los Angeles to Canadian parents in February 1924, Campbell grew up in Vancouver, where from a very young age he began to write songs. He met Elaine Leiterman in 1947, and they married in 1949. Although he took a degree in meteorology from the University of British Columbia, he began his career with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1946 as a songwriter when he was asked to write a song a week for a series called Summer Romance. He joined them full time in 1948. In 1952, he moved to Toronto, where he directed some of Canada's first live TV shows. In 1955, he wrote his first musical for television, Take to the Woods, starring Robert Goulet with a book by Eric Nicol and lyrics by Elaine Campbell. But it was in 1956 that, along with his wife Elaine and actor Don Harron, he wrote the show that he will be remembered for, Anne of Green Gables. Campbell established a reputation for adapting ballet for television, winning two Emmy awards - including one in 1972 for Sleeping Beau